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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. track — a path
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. track — a song
  6. cold — not warm
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — humankind
  9. drill — army training
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. track — to keep track
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. drill — the tool
  17. drill — a practice
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pitch — completely
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. race — a contest
  23. wake — a trail
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com